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Review: Jeanette Jenkins’ Bootcamp Workout DVD

Now that I’m finally hip to the Jeanette-Jenkins-is-awesome-vibe (seriously love her thoughts in yesterday’s interview), I’m a huge fan of her workout DVDs. She just has fun, high-energy moves that challenge you big-time.

Not to mention that her personality is easy-going, encouraging and tough—all rolled into one uber-fit package. (She does some HARD moves without breaking a sweat, and she sometimes does them so quickly and effortlessly that it’s unfathomable.) But enough with my JJ-love fest. Let’smove on to the review!

Jane Fonda’s Workout: Bootcamp Ultra with Jeanette Jenkins is not only a lengthy title, it’s also big shoes to fill. I like Jeanette and all, but Jane Fonda is, well, JANE FONDA. The creator of all things aerobics-y and fitness-y. Heck, she’s even mentioned in one of our all-time favorite songs (for obvious reasons) “Baby Got Back.” While this DVD is not dance-y in the least, it is a good workout.

After a solid 7-minute warm-up, Jeanette leads you through punch-and-kick combos (we are seriously on a kickboxing workout DVD roll lately!) to get your heart rate up, and then it’s high-impact go-time with unique and fun basketball and football drills. After 30 minutes of straight cardio, it’s strength time. Strength includes lots of push-ups and combo moves using dumbbells that work your upper-body with your lower-body at the same time so that the sweat you worked up in the first half keeps on dripping during the second half. You end the hour-long workout with a nice,

gentle cool down that incorporates some stretching and basic yoga poses that’ll make you say “ahhh.”

A few interesting things to note about this workout: It’s just Jeanette in the DVD—there are no back-up exercisers. I didn’t mind this and I thought it made the DVD feel more personable and one-on-one in a way, but it’s definitely unique. Next, there are no breaks or down time. It is a serious go-fest. Finally—and these are the only two cons I can say about the DVD—the music and menu are oddly terrible. During the workout, some generic techno beat plays at a very low volume, and many times the music doesn’t go with the moves, making things a bit awkward. And when I say “menu,” I’m really giving them the benefit of the doubt because there’s only one selection: Play Workout. With a full-hour workout that could be easily divided into cardio and strength, it baffles me that the production team didn’t take the time to make a mix-and-match DVD. Seriously, one star lost there on long-term likability for that…